Ranged troops can move and attack troops behind walls when within their line of sight.

Rally points for the Siege Camp have been added

New Market added with Autobuy/Autosell feature

Markets are no longer required to buy or sell goods. Goods can be traded via the Stockpile, Granary, Keep and Armoury.

The new Market is an advanced trading building which costs 200 wood and features a slider with controls for automatically trading goods, with individual settings per good type.

Multiplayer - Coronation Mode

In Coronation Mode players start off at the lowly rank of Village Idiot with limited access to buildings and military units. By generating honour players can move up the ranks, gaining new technology and weaponry along the way. The first King to achieve the rank of Emperor will win the game.

Coronation Mode features upgradable Keeps which have their own defences and provide additional housing for workers and troops.

New Coronation Mode map - Marshlands

Performance improvements

Simulation step has been tweaked so that scripts are now called 4 times less often.

Skinning of actors has been optimised - These include animations now do not blend from a distance, PoseDrivers are not recreated everytime there is a LOD change and the game now prioritises existing PoseDrivers, rather than always expanding the PoseDriver pool.

Pathfinding has been optimised - Buildings are now treated a one large obstacle rather than a number of small obstacles.

Sound has been optimised - combat vocalizations are no longer decompressed into memory, resulting in a memory savings of up to 100 Megabytes after a long game session.

Additional user interface options

Vsync matches your monitors refresh rate to the in-game frame rate to prevent screen tearing. Enabling Vsync will reduce performance so we have added an option to turn Vsync Off/On in the Options menu.

Full Screen/Windowed mode added to the Options menu.

Camera Changes

Previously when zooming out the camera would tilt until eventually the game would be viewed top down. This camera tilt has been removed. The game can still be viewed top down by pressing the Space Bar.

Health bars are now drawn for currently selected Lord units on their icons in the GUI.

Troop/Building Limits

Troop and building maximums have been added to Single Player, in order to prevent performance issues when the numbers get too high.

These limits can be overridden by changing the relevant settings in the Documents/Stronghold 3/Profiles/options.xml file.

Minimap

Flag icons have been added to the minimap for Capture the Flag mode.

Messages and map location notifications have been added when estates and flags are being captured.

Notifications have been added to show the map location of new reinforcements.

Miscellaneous

Game speed changes using the -/+ keys are now displayed onscreen.

Game speed can also now also be controlled using i/o keys (to help some laptop users that couldnt use -/+ keys).

The in-game message log history has been increased to 50. The message scroll buttons can be held down to scroll through them.

Unwanted saved games can now be deleted in the Load Game screen.

The mouse cursor is locked to the game when in Full Screen or Windowed mode. Pressing ALT + TAB will unlock the cursor in Windowed mode.

Bug Fixes

The CTRL groups (CTRL+1/2/3) are now saved in a save game and available when the save game is loaded.

Fixed the Keeps Enable/Disable all industries buttons from breaking when an ox post was present.

Fixed the green directional cursor appearing when right-click dragging, even when only enemies or buildings were selected.

Fixed the first mouse click on a newly loaded map not being able to create a selection marquee.

Fixed units becoming deselected when dragging the mouse to operate GUI controls and releasing it over the game view.

Placing a storage building will no longer open the storage buildings GUI panel, which was making it difficult to continue placing buildings.

The chat key (Enter) is now disabled in single player mode.

Troop health bars are now draw correctly when max health is above 100% due to Good Lord buildings

Fixed some issues with troop speech when Lord units were part of the selection

Added minor GUI feedback sounds to some controls

Tooltips for troops and building costs have been reformatted to be more readable. Tooltips have been added for placing rally points and increasing buy/sell amounts.

Fixed the stop command not functioning for Trebuchets, Battering Rams and Burning Carts.

Fixed honour gains not being tracked correctly for in-game statistics

Changed maximum building limit in Multiplayer and Singleplayer to only track the players primary estate

Map Editor - Deleting the Engineers guild and saving was causing a crash.

Added some more audio easter eggs... the scribe may say a bit more here and there, and certain units have a bit more to say.

Other things to be aware of in Stronghold 3

Line of Sight Changes

Troops on towers/gatehouses/platforms are now less restricted by Line Of Sight. This change was made primarily in order to avoid frustrating situations where troops standing at one side of a tower couldn't fire directly down at enemies on the ground on the other side of the tower.

The side effect of this change is that sometimes you will see troops shoot through structures when it may look like they shouldn't be able to. Whilst this is obviously not ideal we decided the gameplay benefits of this change outweighed the visual inaccuracies caused as a result of this change.

Graphic Settings Recommendations

If you are using a graphics card with 256mb video memory, we recommend playing on Low settings. If you are using a graphic card with 512mb video memory, we recommend playing on Medium settings. Using High settings or at least High Texture High detail may lead to crashes with 256mb/512mb onboard memory on the video card.

4 Player Multiplayer Recommendations

4 Player multiplayer can be demanding for lower spec computers, particularly lower spec CPUs. For the best 4 player multiplayer experience we recommend playing on a high spec computer such as an Intel i5 or i7 based computer with at least 4GB RAM.

Map Editor

Loading 2 maps into the Map Editor consecutively will cause problems when saving the next map. Please open one map, edit it and save. Then exit the editor and re-load to edit the next map.

Keyboard shortcuts

A list of all the keyboard shortcuts are available in English, German and French on the Firefly Website at the following address - http://bit.ly/sh3keys

Multiplayer- Multiplayer games will automatically resync if an error occurs.- Laddermen and Siege Towers can now be built from siege camps (multiplayer games only). See notes at the bottom of the page.- You can no longer walk on your enemies estates in multiplayer during peace-time.- Multiplayer maps have been edited and tweaked, making it easier for the player to build.- Multiplayer starting goods for High, Med and Low have been increased.- The default building limit in multiplayer has been changed to 100.- Scoring in multiplayer games has been rebalanced. On the score screen: goods are reported by category, and building reports have been simplified.- Steam avatars now appear in the multiplayer lobby.- Multiplayer lobby now auto-refreshes every 10 seconds.- Auto-save has been disabled in multiplayer games.

General- The keep panel now has buttons to turn all work buildings on or off at once. This is very useful in an emergency when you need to raise an army quickly.- You can now buy/sell in greater quantities by holding down SHIFT in the market.- Burning carts can now not attack or destroy stone buildings.- Attack Move has been added. When sending your troops to a destination you can use Attack Move to command them to retaliate if attacked en route. See notes below.- The skybox is fixed in free-look mode (Press Alt + F to unlock the camera).- Added Texture Quality setting to graphics options. Anisotropic filtering will be used when this is set to Medium or High.- Knight movement speed now returns to normal after the horse is killed.- User Maps: Map descriptions and Objectives are now shown when selecting a map.- F1 key opens the Freebuild Panel in Freebuild mode.- Fixed industry on/off buttons to be much more responsive.- Food popularity report panel: The number of days supply of food is now shown in place of daily production.- Ale and Church reports now indicate if an inn or church has not been built.- Ale and Church rates sliders start set to 1x now, enabling their popularity bonuses by default once the relevant buildings and supplies are available.- UI tab buttons to select storage building panels are now disabled if the relevant building has not been built. Hotkeys to select storage buildings (G,H,J,K) will display a hint if the building is not available.- Fixed the UI incorrectly displaying a fractional sale of goods when clicking sell for goods values smaller than 1.- The amount of gold traded when buying and selling goods is now shown above the buy/sell buttons.- Subtle sound effects now play when issuing orders to Lord units to indicate if the command will be carried out or not.

Notes on using Laddermen and Siege Towers(Only available in multiplayer modes)

Laddermen:- Laddermen are created at the siege camp.- Laddermen have 1 ladder which they can place against stone walls by targeting the walls and right-clicking. - Ladders are placed on the wall depending on where you have the camera focused, the same way stairs are placed.- All troops can move up and down ladders to gain access to walls.- Laddermen will return to the siege camp for another ladder after placing theirs against a wall.- Laddermen can also slide ladders down the far side of walls from on top of them using the same method as placing them against the walls.- All troops can push ladders off walls.- Ladders are automatically destroyed after 2-3 days

Siege Towers:- Siege towers are created at the siege camp.- Siege towers can be docked against stone walls by targeting the wall and right-clicking.- Units can be placed on siege towers and will fire missiles as the siege towers moves to its location.- Once the siege tower is docked against a wall, units can climb up and down it to gain access to the walls.

Notes on using Attack Move- Normally when sending troops to a destination they will ignore enemies they encounter and always attempt to reach their destination despite sustaining damage.- If you hold CTRL when selecting a destination your troops will retaliate if they encounter troops along the way.- After killing the enemies your troops will then continue to their destination as originally commanded.

If you experience odd problems after updating please verify your Steam cache files.Problems such as: Odd characters in the menu, buildings cannot be placed in-game, language or speech missing or anything you had in the game before but dont after updating the game.

To verify your Steam cache files:- Open Steam > Library- Right click on Stronghold 3 and select Properties- Select the Local Files tab and then click Verify Integrity of Game Cache

When moving troops in formation use single right click to move troops at the same speed (all move at speed of the slowest troop) and double right click to move troops at their default speeds.

Boiling oil no longer kills your own troops when dropped from the gatehouse.

Stopped the music from changing when animal invasions or troop reinforcements are triggered. (Affects Military mission 2 in particular.)

Fixed issue with audio from troops attacking walls (as well as some other sounds) cutting each other off causing audio distortion.

Fixed an issue with not being able to place walls in multiplayer custom maps & The Deadshore.

Fixed an out of sync in Multiplayer related to walls.

Fixed an out of sync related to Knights on Horses attacking.

Fixed an out of sync in 4 player Multiplayer related to the type of Lord chosen by players 3 and 4.

Mangonels and other tower siege equipment can no longer attack during peacetime in Multiplayer.

After loading a save game all the previous missions will now be unlocked in the campaign menu.

Scores have been fixed for user-created Military based maps.

Fixed a crash when loading a savegame with fire (thanks to Bob, MK & Kostas for sending us their savegames).

Various crashes have been fixed.

Patrol: - Select troops and left-click on the Patrol button in the slide-out command drawer. - Right-click on terrain or walls to set the patrol destination. - The troops will march back and forth between their starting position and the patrol destination.

Barracks Assembly Points: - Select the Barracks, and right-click on a troop build button. - A rally point banner will appear on the cursor. Place it by right-clicking, or left-click to cancel. - Troops of that type will now march to the rally point automatically when they are recruited.

If you experience odd problems after updating please verify your Steam cache files.Problems such as: Odd characters in the menu. Buildings cannot be placed in-game. Language speech is missing or anything you had in the game before but dont after updating the game.

To verify your Steam cache files:1. Open Steam > Library2. Right click on Stronghold 3 and select Properties3. Select the Local Files tab and then click Verify Integrity of Game Cache

- Fixed the issue with the campaign not continuing after loading in a save game from the main menu.- Fixed an issue with sections of wall disappearing when loading in a save game.- Fixed crash if closing a gatehouse when troops are moving through it.- Several building footprints have been reduced.- Buildings can be rotated by using the keyboard. Pressing SHIFT or CONTROL will allow the Q/E keys to rotate the building.- Troops will no longer fall through the floor when crossing Stone Bridges.(User maps with this issue will need to be re-saved)- Fixed the Fletcher occasionally making the bows in the stockpile.- A few other potential crashes have been fixed.

Miscellaneous- If selected together, mixed troop types move at the same speed when commands are issued.- Worker peasants now fight back against enemy soldiers and animals.- Can now double-click to load games.

Audio Changes- Fire sounds added for flaming buildings as well as other burning entities.- Sounds added/tuned to harpoon launcher.- Sounds added/tuned for burning logs, including when troops are struck.- Body fall and thud sounds added for when troops fall to ground or bounce off towers (distinct effects depending on if troop type  i.e. armored vs. unarmored).- Troops on fire now scream properly (and horrifically).- Many additional group troop responses added for when larger groups are ordered about (similar to when large groups are selected currently). These also include negative responses when an impossible command is issued.- Army attack screams added/tuned for when medium or very large groups are ordered to attack a target (distinct variations based on selected group size).

-New free-build mode control panel. This allows you to do the following: - Launch an attack/siege from a list against your castle - Set the in-game difficulty (mostly for the sake of estate food consumption rates currently) - Give yourself some gold - Activate and set the evil-ness of random events- Wall attachments (such as stairs) are no longer limited to their attachment points. This allows you to slide them along wall edges. This also affects hoardings, burning logs and braziers.- You can now press the N key to jump to notifications (enemy attacks, etc) currently taking place.- Fixed the bug where players were unable to attack ruins and other structures.- Fixed a bug where the "King" contributed to the population.- Some tweaks to multiplayer so that the game shouldnt lag as much for everyone when a slow computer is in the game. We are continuing to try to fix MP syncing issues especially in games with 3 or more players.- A new free-build mode map (Threefish River) has been added. - The crash which occurred after loading a map or save and then exiting the game has been fixed.- A crash has been fixed when playing military mission 11 (A Glimmer of Hope) and using the trebuchet to fire at a tower.- Deletion & repair now requires a mouse click, rather than just the mouse button to be held down.- Fixed a bug where blood and sparks particles were attached to troops.- - Trees now sway in the wind.- Please be aware save games made before patch1.3.24532 that contain fire will crash when loaded.

- Mini-map and warning notifications have been added.- Mini-map now has arrows indicating the location of the keep when off-screen.- Fixed various wall issues that were causing crashes.- Fixed issue with troops changing the set stance when moved.- Fixed issues to make withdrawing units from combat easier.- Selectable building and troop limits have been added to multiplayer.- The defensive bonus on walls and towers has been increased.- The aggressive attack range of troops has been doubled.- Fixed some multiplayer issues causing the game to go out of sync.- The game now launches directly into the correct resolution.- Various small bug fixes.

Please be aware save games made before patch1.3.24532 that contain fire will crash when loaded.

- 3 difficulty levels have been added. Easy, Normal and Hard. Some of the changes affect food consumption rates, along with troop numbers depending on the campaign you are playing.- New multiplayer mode King of the Hill added.- Several Exit game crashes fixed. This may still occur very occasionally.- Animals will no longer count as enemies and therefore no longer block building placement.- Added the ability to make buildings rotate by 45 degrees. Hold down CTRL when a building is selected and scroll the mouse wheel.- Sound system cache uses far less memory, which therefore means Stronghold 3 uses less overall.- Pathfinding on top of repaired walls should now function correctly.- Damaged walls repair correctly after loading a save.- Scroll wheel should now reveal all screen resolutions in the graphics options rather than having to pull slider down.- Several Crashes resolved. - Various small bug fixes.

Please be aware save games made before patch1.3.24532 that contain fire will crash when loaded. Also we are aware there are still syncing issues in multiplayer which we are looking to fix for the next patch.

Updates to Stronghold 3 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

- Added a possible fix for the failed to initialise bug.- Fixed issue with units starting in a T-Pose when a map loads.- Fixed issues with troops walking through walls.- Fixed issue with man-at-arms being able to throw their spear through walls when directly ordered to attack someone behind the wall.- Fixed issue with ranged units twitching while attempting to target a unit that is out of line of sight.- Fixed issue with ranged units trying to melee targets that are initially out of line of sight instead of shooting them.- Fixed issue with ranged units not attacking enemies in range after losing their target due to him walking out of range.- Fixed various issues with walls (placing towers at tight angles).- Added "snap" wall placement. Hold down CTRL when adding a new section to an existing wall to either extend the wall straight or perpendicular to the existing wall.- Fixed issue with not being able to turn off all Chandler Workshops.- Fixed issue with engineers starting in a T-Pose when their equipment is first placed.- Fixed issue with peasant models sometimes appearing on top of iron/stone/farms and sometimes being attached to all of your troops.- Fixed issue that would cause trebuchets to break if interrupted while they pack/unpack.- Fixed issue with team colors where some appeared to be on the neutral team (white) after load.- Fixed issue with shadows showing open buildings rather than solid closed buildings.- Villagers will now visit the Inn from time to time.- Camera should no longer go below sea level.- The trebuchet has been re-added to A Glimmer of Hope (Military Campaign: Mission 11). Save games made before the patch will not feature the trebuchet.- Fixed Map Editor crash on exit.- Fixed issue with waterfalls duplicating themselves in the map editor after saving and reloading. Any user created maps with waterfalls will need to be re-saved in the map editor.- Fixed the hotkey shortcuts to select the players Lord (L) and to cycle the camera to enemy lords (SHIFT + L) to accurately find units belonging to the correct players. (Also applies to other camera/selection hotkeys).- Fixed Russian, Polish, and Czech text being cut off on some buttons.- The Windows setting for left-handed mice (left & right mouse buttons swapped) is now used in-game.

Please be aware save games made before patch 1.3.24532 that contain fire will crash when loaded.

Updates to Stronghold 3 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

- The mouse cursor has been improved and will help with selection and responsiveness issues.- Game speed added. Press + to speed up the game (x2 or x3 normal speed) and - to slow the game down to normal speed (x1).- Buildings can now be placed on top of workers and animals. The game will move the workers or animals out of the way.- Fixed issue with military units sometimes not selecting a new target after a fight.- Fixed issue with Archers and Rangers not being able to attack walls & buildings.- Fixed issue with wolves (and other animals) being able to climb up ladders.- Fixed issue with siege equipment being able to climb walls/towers.- Fixed crash when changing resolutions in game on some machines.- Fixed issue with stone quarries and iron mines when a worker was turned back into a peasant.- Fixed issues when quitting/continuing the Tutorial.- Fixed several pathfinding issues in Tower of London siege map.- Fixed issue with peacetime continuing from multiplayer games into single player games.- Hostile animals now respond to missile fire.- Fixed French keyboard layout.- The Map Editor is now available from the Steam interface. To locate it click on the top menu 'View' and select 'Tools'. Scroll down and you will see 'Stronghold 3 - Map Editor'- An extra large map size has been added to the Map Editor.- A new large Freebuild map, Abandoned Lands, has been added. - Various small bug fixes.